Quick question, now that it seems quite a few events featuring the Tiger and Wildcat are also including non-Hobie F18 boats (at least they are invited, rather) what would be the deal with running Sail Innovation sails, their prices seem competitive and they are definitely well designed (2010 F18 world champ on a Wildcat)?Any thoughts , folks?

_________________Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...

I would assume that you would be scored as a F18 class boat (same as a capricorn or nacra) and not as a Tiger or Wildcat. Therefore not reciving points for national rankings. Also i dont believe you would be allowed to race with Sail innovation sails at a Hobie Cat sanctioned/sponsored Nationals or Area Championships.

I emailed alex udin directly, he's the CEO. alex@sail-innovation.com . They have 3 different F18 sails and jibs and two spins, it's not cheap , about 3700 euros, 4700 US, but the nice thing is, if I get a Wildcat, they will work great on that boat too (2010 F18 World Champs!) My Tiger sails are 8 years old so I need a boost if I want to be competitive!

_________________Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...

Be aware though that you won't be able to swap a Tiger mainsail for a Wildcat one since the sail areas are calculated using the different masts so a Tiger main would likely be too big for a Wildcat due to the longer mast chord on the wildcat, they also have a different head board locking system. Jib's and spi's might be OK but I would ask before you decide to buy anything hoping to change boats later on.

The difference is 0.2 meters square, between the tiger sail and the wildcat sail. The sail area is about 16.950 on most production boats . 1.74 sqm for the wildcat mast and 1.54 sqm for the tiger mast. 15.15 sqm sail on wildcat and 15.35 sqm for tiger sail.

So if you tried to swap sails you would be .15 sqm over putting a Tiger sail on a Wildcat. You would also be outside the 1500 mm measurement on the head sail measurement.